The Portland daily press., 1887-08-17
the THISTLE ARRIVES.
A Description OF the Volunteers
Scotch Competitors.
Captain Barr Confident Of the This
ties Ability.
The Volunteer Drifts Into Newport
Ahead of the Fleet.

New YORK, August 16.-The Scotch cut
ter Thistle arrived in the harbor early this
morning and achored off Tompkinsvllle at
6 o'clock. She crossed the bar at 4 o'clock
and was towed to her anchorage by the tug
Goodwin.
Captain Barr reports a pleasant passage.
except three days Of rough weather and
three without puff of wind The rest of
time the cutter had light breeze. 1t viii
take about two weeks to clean her up.. set
her topmast and bend on her racing sails.
She came over under a mainsail, topsail,
sta7sail and jib. For two days of the trip
she carried two reefs in her mainsail. The
rest of the voyage she shook out every
thing. The voyage took just 81 days The
officers and crew number q men in all.
The first thing that strikes the American
yachtsman as remarkable is the enormous
mast. Truly 1t is a great spar, and a beau
tiful one as we'll IL is Of Oregon pine and
must have been monarch in its nativefor-
est. Her other Spars are alse big and beau
tiful. Owing to her great breadth her
decks are. OF course, very roomy, which is
greatly to the advantage Of the crew on a
racing day. The planking Of them is of yell
low Pine, and the covering board is Of teak,
and in both cases the wood is Of the highest
order Of excellence. Her bulwarks are low,
lined inside with maghogany, and finished
with neat rail of fine elm. The skylghts
an1 companions are Of teak wood, and very
neat and serviceable they look. The main
saloon is exceptionally large, and is reached
by neat mahogany stair, with teak hand
rails. This apartment is lighted by sky
light, in the glass of which the thistle is
neatly introduced as an ornamentation. The
capitals Of the pilasters Of the woodwork of
the sides of the saloon are also enriched
with carvings Of the hardy plant after
which the vessel is named. The ladies'
cabin is done in fine yellow pine and teak
woods, and its fixings and fittings look both
neat and serviceable. The sail area is very
large. The club topsail is much larger than
that OF the Volunteer, and her mast and
spars seem to be longer when compared with
the size of her hull. In the Thistle, Mr..
Watson, the designer, has turned out re-
markably powerful boat, and he also has
put great driving power" on her.
The dimensions of the cutter are: Length
on load water line, So feet; length per Gus
toms, 9S feet; breadth, extreme, 20.3 feet;
built built. BY Messrs.' ' D. T and W. Henderson va" e
Co., designed by Mr.. G. L. Watson, while
the sails were made by Messrs. Ratsey &
Lapthorne of Cowes. The Thistle is owned
by Mr.. James Bell and several others.
The Thistle will remain at anchor off
Mr.. Bell, from Liverpool, on the steamer
City of Rome, which is due at New York,
September 8th.
On her way over the best days run was
made Tuesday, August I'd, when, with all
sails set. including her Spinnaker, the cut
ter reeled off PAT miles in a heavy southeast
breeze, with cross sea, which is considered
something remarkable for a small craft.
Confident Captain Barr
To an Evening Post reporter, Captain
Barr said that the Thistle was about eight
minutes faster than the Genesta. as that
seemed to be fair average from the races
they had sailed together, and at present
there was very little if any choice between
the Irex and Genesta. He thought that, al
though the Thistle was fast before the wind,
she could do much better on the wind with
good breeze. He wanted to see a good
steady breeze, but did not seem to want
gale. He remarked, however, that his boat
was as good as any of them in heavy
breeze. Captain Barr said that he should
have no pilot in the coming races, but was
going to get his racing spars up as soon as
possible and get accustomed to New York
harbor. The race of twenty miles to wind
ward he was looking forward to with pleas
ure, and from his talk it was very evident
that he expected the Thistle to win. When
told that there was a probability of the Vol
unteer having to allow the Thistle some
time, he said that every little helped. He
wanted to see close race and expected to
win. Although Captain Barr would not say
that the Thistle would carry the cup back to
England, his manner showed that he ex-
nQ0fa6 xiQtnru